[Civil War]. Westcott, Lemuel K.

[Family Archive of Letters, Documents, Photographs, and Supporting Material Documenting the Civil War Service of Lemuel K. Westcott, Regarding His Service in Tennessee and Alabama, His Participation in Sherman's March to the Sea, and His Immediate Post-War Service in Texas]

[Various locations in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and Texas: 1862-1866]. About 200 autograph letters, signed, totaling over 600 pages, including both war-date letters and manuscript letters dated before the Civil War, mostly written in ink, with a few in pencil, most with original transmittal envelopes; plus five photographs and several other documents. Generally nice condition, with some fading to a small portion of the letters. Very good. Item #3227

An excellent archive of descriptive letters written by U.S. Army Second Lieutenant Lemuel K. Westcott, mainly to his wife and father, along with letters written to him by various family members, two service-time photographs of Westcott, and numerous supporting documents and papers. Westcott mustered into the 38th Illinois Volunteer Infantry in August 1861, and most notably served under General William T. Sherman during the March to the Sea in the summer and fall of 1864, and then later as part of the peacekeeping force sent to Texas just after the war.

Lieutenant Westcott grew up in Ohio but enlisted as a private in Illinois, and was quickly promoted, eventually earning the special title of adjutant for his regiment. His correspondence provides important and detailed information on troop movements, locations, his superior officers, those fighting or who were lost in battle, local news and intelligence during his service, observations of his locations, and much more. Most of Westcott's letters range from four to six pages, providing a deep look into the thoughts and activities of a young man serving practically the entirety of the war in important locations. In the midst of the conflict, on May 3, 1864, Westcott found time to get married to Sara Marie Adams of Logan County, Illinois, and the bulk of his letters are written to his young bride beginning in March 1864 and concluding on February 26, 1866.

Westcott's sixty-six letters to his wife begin in Huntsville, Alabama on March 12, 1864. He's stationed in Tennessee in May and then again after the March to the Sea. In the interim, Westcott writes eleven letters to his wife while in various locations in Georgia, a few "near Atlanta," dated between June 3 and November 17, 1864. In a letter dated June 29, 1864, Westcott writes from "near Murietta, Georgia" with details about the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. The Union forces suffered a tactical defeat; however, the battle failed to halt Sherman's advance on Atlanta. Westcott was part of the picket line during this conflict. He writes: "After an hour and a half hot work our troops were driven back in confusion having suffered severely and inflicted comparatively little loss upon the enemy. Davis held ground in advance of his previous lines but failed to carry the enemy's works.... The manner in which our troops were put into the fight was absolutely criminal. Closed in masses and exposed to a fire they could not return, they were cut down by the hundreds. The rear lines so fully exposed and the front were powerless as they could not fire."

The rebels allowed the Union wounded to be removed and he estimated that Newton's division lost 600 men. He writes: "I have seen many hard nights in the war but the hardest was on the 27th. There was a woman in the 28th Ky, who had been with the regiment since it came out over the field in search of her husband. When I saw her a soldier was leading her back, I heard him tell her that her husband was wounded but not badly. She was weeping and seemed perfectly oblivious to the shot that was flying around and all else save for her husband."

On October 17, 1864, Westcott writes from Villanow, Georgia: "[General John Bell] Hood moved his army past Atlanta and has been striking our railroad quite effectively to. We left Atlanta on the 3rd and have been after him. He got a good thrashing from the garrison at Allatoona but left before the army reached him. He demanded surrender of Resaca but [could] not capture it. Dalton surrendered. From Atlanta we went to Pin Top and then to Kingston, then to Rome, then to Resaca, then a crossed Rocky faced Ridge into Snake Creek Gap. The advance reaching the top of the ridge just in time to see the rear of the Rebs pass closely followed by the 67th Corps." He writes that the rebels were retreating quickly and the marching and rough terrain were difficult for the troops: "Our boys are many of them barefooted and it is hard to see them going with bleeding feet over those rocky roads."

Westcott also wrote thirteen letters to his father, Russell H. Westcott, between November 13, 1862 and June 7, 1865. In one of his letters, dated March 23, 1863, Westcott writes that he was wounded and taken prisoner by the rebels near Murfreesboro on New Year's Eve, 1862. He was held at Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. From prison, he writes: "We expected to be passed to our lines as soon as we reached this place but have no prospect of being free for a long time.... The truce boat comes up to city point every week generally. There are about 180 officers here from all parts of the line." On May 8, 1863, Westcott reports that he is back under "the stars and stripes."

After Westcott's experiences in Georgia, he spends the remainder of his wartime service in Tennessee and Alabama, between early December 1864 and late June 1865. On April 5, 1865, from Lick Creek, Tennessee, Westcott portends the imminent end to the war, which took place four days later: "I suppose you are wild with excitement north over the fall of Richmond. We got the news here on the 3rd and a salute of a hundred guns was fired. I hope they will give the rebs no chance to rally but strike fast and heavy as long as a shadow of an army remains. That's the quickest and best way to make peace."

After the end of the war, the 38th Illinois was reorganized and Westcott was sent to Texas as part of the Union's effort to restore order in the western theater. Along the way, he wrote three letters from New Orleans. During his Texas service, Westcott wrote eighteen letters to his wife from Indianola, Green Lake, Camp Stanley, and Victoria between July 16, 1865 and February 25, 1866. In his first letter, Westcott writes: "Here we are in Texas. We set foot on the shore yesterday. Indianola is on the west side of Matagorda Bay and is a desolate little place. Imagine Atlanta strung out on one street and only one house in six occupied and set on a place like the shores of Lake Michigan and you have Indianola."

Westcott also describes Green Lake: "Green Lake is four or five miles long and two wide with a few groves around it. It seems like Ill[inoi]s to ride over the prairie. There are large droves of cattle and a few horses feeding on the prairie. The horses are sorry looking little ponies. There are hares here, they are about twice as large as our rabbits. Their ears are very large, so large that the natives call them mule rabbits."

For most of his time in Texas, Westcott was stationed at Camp Stanley in Victoria. He writes often about the wild and barren landscape of Texas and his frequent hunting trips. He also recounts some of his earlier experiences in Tennessee, mentions his incarceration at Libby Prison, writes about "filling up the regimental book," and much more. On September 18, Westcott relates that "The citizens of Goliad are planning a big meeting for the 27th of this month, for what object I cannot exactly tell, but I believe to set the machinery at work to make Texas one of the United States." In his letter of September 25, 1865, he reports that one of his fellow soldiers was bitten by a tarantula and died the next day.

In late December, he writes: "The citizens made Christmas seem like the Fourth of July with firing guns and crackers. Last night went out to Doct. Davis with Col. Colyer and had a turkey supper.... Doct. is from West Virginia and his wife is a very pleasant sociable lady. They have been in Texas about eight years, are not satisfied with the country and talk of going back to Virginia. They are quite different from the most of Texans, evidently having moved in the most refined circles of society. The majority of Texans I have come in contact with are the kind that are carrying weapons and drinking whiskey. Victoria is about the size of Atlanta and I don't think I have ever passed through it without seeing more of the citizens (and the business) men of the place under the influence of liquor. This is a great country to make money in and also a great country in which to spend it."

Regarding Westcott's Civil War service, the present archive also includes a muster-out roll for Westcott's regiment, an undated four-page document listing the officers of the 38th Illinois, a register of the commissioned officers in service of the 38th Illinois dated January 1864, and a document showing Westcott's brother Henry's discharge after one year of service in the 12th Indiana Volunteer Regiment. In addition, there are five photographic images present here, which include two tintypes of Westcott in uniform, a cabinet card portrait of Westcott in his later years, a cabinet card of a couple identified on the verso as Russell K. Westcott and Loise Cash Westcott, Lemuel's parents, and an oval-shaped cabinet card portrait of Lemuel's brother-in-law, Robert Adams.

The present archive is also comprised of a substantial amount of supplemental family papers and letters, with some letters written to Westcott during the Civil War from a variety of siblings, cousins, and friends. Sadly, no letters from Westcott's wife are present here, but the wartime correspondence from his parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, brother-in-law, cousins, and friends number about thirty-five documents. Among the more interesting supplemental correspondence is a letter from Robert Adams, who was also serving in the Civil War, writing to his sister (and Lemuel's wife) Sarah Westcott, relating a little "adventure" experienced by his company. He writes: "A guard at the bridge saw someone coming toward him, when he cried out who comes there, said the person just to tell you it proved to be a slave who had run away from his master. We kept her until the next day when her master came for her, we made him take [the oath] before delivering the woman up to him, he did not like much to take the oath but there was too many gray coats around for them to say so."

The supplemental portion of the archive also includes almost eighty letters written to Westcott prior to the Civil War by various friends and family members, as well as six issues of unique handwritten newspapers and vernacular literary magazines. They appear to be connected with a friend of Westcott's named W.T. Holmes, with whom he exchanged correspondence included here. These vernacular, handmade periodicals, mostly from Iowa, date from 1859 to 1861 (with a couple undated), and report various news, including Lincoln's election and a drawing of John Brown going to trial. A phenomenal family archive centered on Lemuel Westcott's Civil War service but with opportunities for deeper research into the Westcott family and their wider circle of friends before and during the conflict.

Price: $24,500.00